title: [Mortality of acute pancreatitis in a 20 years period].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mortality for acute pancreatitis (AP) in Chile has fluctuated between 7 ana 10% in last years.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate AP mortality over a period of 20 years in a clinical hospital in Santiago, Chile.
  
  
  METHODS
  Review of the database of hospital discharges with the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis, between 1990 and 2010 and the medical records of those patients. Age, gender, length of hospital stay, surgeries, percutaneous interventions and mortality were registered. To compare the evolution of the disease over time, patients were divided in two groups: those hospitalized between 1990 and 1999 and those hospitalized between 2000 and 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We reviewed the records of 1367 patients with a median age of 48 years (48% men). In the first period, 93 of 637 (14.6%) patients died, whereas in the second period, 22 of 730 patients died (3.0%). In the first and second period, 41.9 and 25.3% of patients were subjected to surgical procedures. The hospital stay was shorter in the second group, compared with the first (14.2 and 25.9 days respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was a decrease in mortality caused by AP in the last 10 years, probably associated with a better interdisciplinary management of these patients.
authors.affiliation: Sección de Gastroenterología, Departamento de Medicina Interna, Hospital Clínico, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Macarena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gompertz
authors.forename: Ivone
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lara
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.forename: Juan Pablo
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Miranda
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mancilla
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Watkins
authors.forename: Patricio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Palavecino
authors.forename: Zoltán
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Berger
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D002677:Chile / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000401:mortality*; D012189:Retrospective Studies